Frederick incubator plans to launch accelerator, makerspace

A Frederick-based tech incubator is set to expand programming with a pair of grants after receiving funding through the Rural Maryland Council.
Frederick Innovative Technology Center, Inc. (FITCI) received two grants totaling $450,000 from the Council’s Rural Maryland Prosperity Investment Fund.
The grants will be used for the following, according to a news release:

• An accelerator program. Known as the Community Growth Accelerator Program. The cohort-based program will offer entrepreneurs business connections, mentorship and education, and culminate in a public pitch event. The grant for this program was for $200,000.
• A makerspace. Located in the incubator’s downtown Frederick center, the Tech Shopwill provide tools and training to create hardware, with a focus on the Internet of Things. The grant for this program was for $250,000.

Fifteen-year-old FITCI opened a new location in the western Maryalnd town’s ROOT building earlier this year, where it houses companies and events. President and CEO Kathie Callahan Brady said the funding “couldn’t have come at a better time.”
“With these grants we can now put the finishing touches on our programs and the rest of the center,” FITCI  said in a statement. “Through these projects, we will be able to guide so many more entrepreneurs in ways that will accelerate and transform their businesses.”
FICTI is among a host of groups seeking to galvanize new businesses within the ROOT building, including the Maryland Women’s Business Center, Frederick Center for Research in Science and Technology and Frederick County’s economic development office, among others.
The incubator also has a second location housing biosciences companies on Metropolitan Court in Frederick.
The grants represent the latest effort to provide new funding for programs supporting startups in the state. Last year, TEDCO awarded incubation grants for programs in Annapolis, on the Eastern Shore and in Prince George’s County, as well as in Baltimore.